Reader Problems Tag

It’s been a long, long time since I picked up a tag to fill out on this here blog but I saw this one banging around the internet and I really wanted to fill it out. The Reader Problems Tag was created by AboutToRead.

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR, how do you decide what to read next?
When I see that big pile of books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read I approach the task with getting the smaller or less interesting reads out of the way before I hit the big daddies of my collection. I used this approach throughout all of last year and I was so bored by the end that I completely gave up on reading anything. This year however I have completely changed it around by looking over that big pile and picking up a book that takes my fancy at the time. Hence my reading diet has become totally varied and I’m reading more for pleasure than a chore – it’s a total blast and something I wish I’d done much sooner.

2. You’re half way through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?
Sadly I tend to read a whole lotta books that I don’t enjoy or I generally get halfway through and struggle with reaching the finish line. My general rule is never to leave a book unfinished before you form an opinion. Something can happen within the last few chapters that can totally change your experience of a story so on occasions when I’ve hit a stumbling block I tend to put down whatever book I’m reading and start another, easier read. My reading habits mean that I will have about three books in the go with one massive novel that I’m not getting on with taking me an age to get through whilst I zoom through five or six other books. I have some bad habits I know…

3. The end of the year is coming and you are so close but so far away from finishing your Goodreads challenge. Do you try and catch up but hope to finish or do you just let it go?
Last year I tried, I really did, but when you’re more than ten books behind of schedule you know you really should just give up rather than keep playing catch up. This year I’m confident I’ll be on track and won’t be turning pages at 11pm on New Year’s Eve!

4. Everyone and their mother loves this book that you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?
I don’t often let my strong dislike of a book be known online, but I do share a good book bitch with one of my closest friends Jemma whom I’ve recorded some YouTube videos with before. Sometimes we agree, and sometime we disagree but it’s good to get together and talk rubbish about something that’s both wound us up and then laugh about the things we come out with.

5. The covers of a series you love do not match. How do you cope?
Everyday I look my Chaos Walking series on my bookshelf, and everyday I shed a little tear that they covers don’t match. Nah, it’s not that depressing. It does bug me a little but what I’ll probably do in years to come is clear out a lot of my books, gift this series to a friend to read and then reinvest in a nice trilogy set that matches.

6. You’re reading a book and you’re about to start crying in public. What do you do?
I do a whole lot of my reading at home, however I did let out a little gasp in my local coffee shop during the closing chapters of The Miniaturist and ending up giving the people sitting next to me a rather bashful look when they gave me a stare. Sorry guys, it was rather shocking at the time okay!

7. A sequel to a book you love just came out but you don’t remember anything from the first book. Will you reread the book, skip the sequel, read the synopsis on Goodreads or cry in frustration?
I tend to jump straight into the new book without bothering a refresher, it’s all part of the fun to me. I recently picked Whispers Underground which is the third instalment of the Peter Grant series that I’ve been rationing for a rainy day read and three pages in I realised that I had drawn a complete blank on the plot of the last book. I think I spent a good chapter or two completely confused before I gave up and hit up the Goodreads synopsis on the previous plot… needless to say I was ashamed at not being able to pick it up myself.

8. You don’t want anyone borrowing your books. How do you politely tell them no when people ask?
It’s more a case of me gifting people books than them asking me. I’ve never been very possessive of my books but I have lost a few that were loaned out years ago and I do rarely mourn their loss. I’m on a personal mission to share some of my favourite stories with my friends and am often recommending books to them I think they’ll like. On the other hand I wouldn’t even fathom handing out some of my treasured series, ha!

9. You’ve picked up and put down five books in the last month. How do you get over a reading slump?
This situation happens to me on a semi-regular basis, especially since training myself to become a more invested reader last year. Sometimes I struggle to get into a book or a couple at a time where I’ve reached points in their stories that don’t appeal to me at the time or I’m plain struggling with. On these occasions I will often put all reading materials aside and hit my Bloglovin’ feed, submit to a Netflix binge or organise some social time with friends. Reading is one of my most favourite pasttimes but sometimes it’s good to do something else to take your mind off of things.

10. There are so many books coming out that you are just dying to read. How many of them will you actually buy?
Probably all of them. If I’m invested in a series I will make exceptions to buy the latest instalment if I see it in a bookshop – unless it’s in hardback and I have every other copy in paperback or vice versa. True story, I have two books on my ‘to-buy’ list in the summer when they are re-released in paperback, I even have their release dates in my personal diary. The need is that strong.

11. After you have bought all the books you wanted to buy. How long will they sit on your shelf until you read them?
It really depends on what order I decide to read them in. I recently did a book haul for my birthday last month and I swore that I read new books only from that pile or from my over-spilling book shelf rather than buy more and increase the pile… well, let’s just say I’m not one to say no to a supermarket book bargain! I’d added about three more books since then and I’ve read atleast one from those recent purchase before touching the others. I have certainly developed bad reading habits during my aim to read so many books this year!

That’s my go at the the tag and I hope you’ve learnt a little bit more about me and my reading habits. Do you have any favourite reads and any bad habits in reading?

Let me know below in the comments or even post your own go at this tag because from now, I tag you – yes you!